Don't Add Baking Soda To An Overly Acidic Cocktail — Do This Instead

Lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit. Whatever your preference is, fresh-squeezed citrus is a core cocktail ingredient, providing balance with its acidity and helping enhance the cocktail's flavors. And while citrus does wonders, too much can overpower a drink. If this happens, your first instinct might be to add a pinch of baking soda to neutralize it, but Justin Lavenue — master mixologist, co-owner of The Roosevelt Room in Austin, Texas, and owner/operator of The Eleanor and RoadHaus Mobile Cocktails — shares why that isn't the best tactic.

Lavenue explains that technically, baking soda can help neutralize the acid in your cocktails. This is because it reacts with acids and produces carbon dioxide, hence the fizziness that occurs when you add it to vinegar, lemon juice, or another acidic liquid. "In the most literal science-class sense, a tiny pinch could reduce the perceived acidity of an overly tart cocktail," he says. "If someone absolutely insisted on doing it, I would add the smallest possible pinch, stir, wait for the fizzing to calm down, taste, and stop immediately."

However, Lavenue does not recommend adding a pinch of baking soda to an overly acidic cocktail. "We are making cocktails, not building a volcano for the school science fair," he says, "and I do not want my drink to taste like a substitute for Alka-Seltzer." He also notes that it can flatten the drink's brightness and make it taste chalky, salty, or soapy.

If you add too much lemon juice to your cocktail, instead of adding baking soda, Lavenue suggests a few different fixes. The first is using less citrus in the first place. If you're new to making cocktails, it's a good idea to follow the 3-2-1 ratio for balanced drinks — three parts spirit, two parts acid, and one part sweetener.

Lavenue also suggests adding more of a sweetening agent to help balance the drink. This can be a variety of things: Simple syrup (or just sugar in general), honey, maple syrup, and agave nectar are all good choices. Just like how acid can balance an overly-sweet cocktail, sugar can help make a drink less acidic, so adding sweetener will bring some overall balance to your drink. His third suggestion is adding a few drops of a saline tincture or a few grains of kosher salt. "Salt will not truly erase the acid," he says. "But it can make sharp acidity register as smoother and more integrated on the palate."

If you're not looking to add any additional ingredients, Lavenue also recommends lengthening the drink with more non-acidic ingredients. "[Utilize] the ingredients already present in the cocktail itself," he explains, "but in the proper ratios to ensure the final product is balanced." Measure your ingredients carefully, and you'll be left with an impressive homemade cocktail you're proud of.